Audit of trauma management in Scotland
Reporting on 2021

About this release

This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) is the ninth report by the Scottish Trauma Audit Group (STAG) since 2011. Compliance with Scottish trauma network key performance indicators, case-mix adjusted mortality and patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) are within part one of the report. Parts two and three provides a comprehensive summary of injuries and the patient journey for both adults and paediatrics respectively.

This publication was revised on 7 September 2022 due to an error with the data source for Figure 3.5a and Figure 3.5b.  

Charts (Figure 3.5a and 3.5b) in Part 3: Demographics and patient pathways in paediatrics dashboard were showing data relating to adults and this has now been corrected. The impact of this is that text highlighting a change in paediatric trauma presentations was not observed and this has also now been removed. Reference to this data has been corrected within the Main Points contained within Part 1: Introductions, standards and outcomes dashboard.

Main points

After reviewing over 99% of emergency department attendances for inclusion, STAG report on 6,738 adult and 241 paediatric patients in this report.

Chart, bar chart Illustrating KPI compliance, comparing 2020 and 2021 data

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Key performance indicators (KPIs) 2020 and 2021

IV – intravenous, ABx – antibiotics, TXA – tranexamic acid, PROMs – patient reported outcome measures

Patient outcome

• 7% of all patients died in hospital, rising to 21% of patients suffering major trauma.
• PROMs show a significant reduction in moderate to extreme problems reported in mobility, pain and self-care at six months post injury when comparing 2018/19 responses to 2020/21.

Patients aged 16 years and over (adult)

• 19% of adult patients are classified as having major trauma (n=1,277).
• 75% of injuries are caused by falls, rising to 90% for patients over 65 years.
• Most injuries were non-intentional (83%), followed by alleged assaults (5%).
• Injuries are more common in patients who reside in the most deprived areas, but this has not been shown to influence mortality.
• The proportion of incidents involving alcohol has reduced slightly in all categories except males suffering major trauma (23% in 2020 increasing to 25% in 2021).

Patients aged 0–15 years (paediatric)

• 22% of paediatric patients are classified as having major trauma (n=53).
• 68% of major trauma patients are male.
• 66% of injuries were non-intentional with 23% caused during sporting activities.

Background

STAG is part of the Scottish National Audit Programme in Public Health Scotland. STAG’s aim is to improve the quality of care, patient experience and outcomes through measuring compliance against standards of care to support local quality improvement. Full details of the KPIs can be found by on the STAG website (external website).

Further information

The next release of this publication will be in summer 2023.